We will be posting one article a week in July around ways you can reduce the amount of plastic in your day-to-day life! Let us know how you're getting on on Twitter by using the hashtag #SickOfPlastic.

Written by Chloe Healy

If you are reading this article today and/or taking part in our Plastic Free July challenge, then it’s fair to say that you are already aware of the serious challenges plastic pollution poses to human health and the environment. But do we really understand why its a problem, what exactly makes plastic so harmful and how it is linked to climate change?

Next Thursday July 12th, Ireland could become the first country in the world to fully divest from fossil fuels. But the thing is, we need TDs to actually be there to vote. We, those campaigning for progressive action on climate, know how important this is, but the reality is that TDs have lots of other issues to contend with. Unfortunately, they might not show up and vote unless they're asked by their constituents.

Will you take 30 seconds to ask your TDs to be there to vote for a strong Divestment Bill?

Back in 2010, when environmental photographer and activist Luka Tomac began the journey of documenting stories from the front lines of climate change, the realities of the crisis were not yet mainstream. Though the harmful impacts of climate change had been known for decades, the understanding of just how fast these challenges will confront people still seemed far into the distant future. Over the past eight years, Tomac, a Croatian native, has visited more than 20 countries to document stories of resistance and solutions to climate change through photographs and interviews of impacted people and communities.

Citizens' Assembly report on climate must be acted on immediately

Friends of the Earth has said that 20 years of government inaction has been exposed by new figures from the EPA which show Ireland will miss its 2020 climate pollution target by 19 percentage points, and that without new policies our emissions will still be higher in 2030 than they were in 1990.

Commenting on the EPA figures, Oisin Coghlan, Director of Friends of the Earth said:

Friends of the Earth led the campaign for a climate law in Ireland. It was finally passed in the same month as the Paris Agreement on climate action in 2015.

And yet the Government is still dragging its feet. So now our fellow campaigners at Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) have filed an historic climate change lawsuit against the Government, and we need your help to spread the word!

Friends of the Earth has accused Leo Varadkar of dropping a diplomatic clanger on climate change in his effort to cosy up to Trump.

While speaking publicly in the U.S. today, the Taoiseach said he was “happy to take credit” for the rejection of a planning application for a wind farm near Trump’s Doonbeg golf course following a phone call from Mr. Trump asking for Varadkar’s intervention as then Minster for Tourism.

Commenting, Oisin Coghlan, Director of Friends of the Earth said:

"I'm truly shocked by this. When Leo Varadkar said he wanted to talk to Donald Trump about climate change I did not think he meant 'taking credit' for a wind farm not being built near Trump's golf course in Clare.”

Bill to end offshore drilling licences passes first legislative hurdle

The Stop Climate Chaos Coalition has described today's Dáil vote in favour of the Climate Emergency Measures Bill as "historic". The Bill, proposed by People Before Profit TD Brid Smith, would end the issuing of licences to explore for oil and gas in Irish waters. It passed the second stage debate and was referred to the Climate Action Committee by 78 votes to 48, with cross-party support emerging to overcome Government opposition to the Bill.

Stop Climate Chaos spokesperson, Meaghan Carmody, said:

"Leo Varadkar put his Government on the wrong side of history today. The Government clung to the past but they lost. Dáil Eireann voted to take another step towards a fossil fuel free future.

Government should treat Citizens' Assembly recommendations on Climate Change with the same serious as the Assembly's recommendations on the 8th Amendment

Friends of the Earth will tell an Oireachtas Committee this evening that politicians should approach climate change the same way they approach Brexit. The Oireactas Committee on climate action is holding its hearings on climate progress, and will hear from the EPA, the Climate Council, Prof. John Sweeney, the IFA, and the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, of which Friends of the Earth is a member. Commenting before the hearing, Director of Friends of the Earth, Oisin Coghlan said: